“Solitude” painted by Marc Chagall (b. 1887, Liozna, Russian Empire (present-day Belarus) – 1985, Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France) captures the feelings of many European Jews during the inter-war period. On the left, a man sits covered in a prayer shawl, holding a Torah in his left arm. His right hand rests on his chin as he looks with despair at the ground. The man seems to not acknowledge his surroundings. To his right sits a goat with a violin. An angel floats above the goat in the sky. In the background there are images of a town and possibly a church on the right (signified by three pointed towers). This painting seems to be Chagall’s reflection of the world in which he lived. At the time of the painting’s completion, anti-Semitic discourse existed throughout European society. In line with Wagner’s view, many thought that Jews could not be artists because they lacked a national identity. Does Chagall represent this idea with the goat holding the violin? Does he mock the idea that Jews are so despised that they cannot create art, yet animals can? Or, does the goat represent the shtetl life of the Jews, which was diminishing with the rise of anti-Semitism and increase of urbanization. Significantly, the man, assumed as a Jew because of his garb, clings to the Torah. Although he may foresee a dark future for Jews, he knows that the language and texts of the Jewish people will continue to unite them. The town and the angel are interesting images as well. Does the man’s location outside the town convey that Jews were not welcome in many European cities at the time? Does the Jew want to be in the town or in the country with his Torah and goat (possibly signifying shtetl life)? Is the angel flying to the town, ignoring the Jew? Or vice versa, is she leaving the town to watch over the Jew and bring him eternal hope? This piece is extremely intriguing to me because of all of these questions. Clearly, Chagall explores the Jew’s place in society in this painting, but I am curious as to where Chagall thinks the Jew belongs.http://www.tamuseum.org.il/collection-work/3413Oil on canvas, from the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv, Israel.